Miao Ancient Songs
01 · Historical Records
The content of the Miao ancient songs is all-embracing, from the birth of the universe, the origin of humanity and the species, the splitting of heaven and earth and the great flood of primeval times to the great migration of the Miao, their ancient social system and their daily production and life, making them a comprehensive collection of ancient Miao myth.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Throughout this vast Miao-populated area there circulates a body of verse myth chiefly about creation, popularly called the “ancient songs” or “ancient songs and ancient words”. These myths are mostly sung at drum-society sacrifices, weddings and funerals, gatherings of relatives and friends and festivals, the singers usually being the middle-aged and elderly, shamans and singers; the banquet is an important occasion for singing them. Today these myths are still sung and transmitted among the people.
Splitting Heaven and Earth
The first part of the Miao ancient songs' creation content.
The Maple Song
One of the ancient songs, telling of the relation between the maple tree and the Miao ancestral forebears.
Casting the Sun and Making the Moon
One of the ancient songs, telling of the casting of the sun and moon.
The Great Song
One of the singing forms of the Miao around Huangping; the inheritor can sing more than a hundred pieces.
The Wine Song
A Miao singing form performed at banquets and an important vehicle for transmitting the ancient songs.
The Journey Song
One of the Miao singing forms, of which the inheritor can sing more than a hundred pieces.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Miao are distributed across several provinces of south-western China; by dialect they may be divided roughly into the western Hunan, eastern Guizhou and Sichuan-Yunnan-Guizhou dialect areas. The area along the Qingshui river in south-eastern Guizhou is the largest Miao concentration in the country, roughly including Kaili, Jianhe, Huangping, Taijiang, Leishan, Danzhai, Shibing, Zhenyuan and Sansui, and also Sanjiang in Guangxi and Jing county in Hunan.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Miao Ancient Songs · Miao Ancient Songs · Miao Ancient Songs.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The ancient songs and words of the Miao are a nation's memory of the heart, the encyclopedia and “classic” of ancient Miao society, with value for history, ethnology, philosophy and anthropology. Under the impact of modern culture and the market economy the Miao ancient songs are on the verge of being lost: in Taijiang, for instance, of the county's 130,000 Miao few can sing the whole work, at present only some two hundred men and women can sing incomplete portions, and these are all middle-aged and elderly, the elders who transmit more of the songs being advanced in years. If rescue and protection are not urgently undertaken, this national treasure will vanish from the world. The Miao ancient songs are the epic created by the ancient Miao forebears over long productive labour, all-embracing in content, from the birth of the universe and the origin of humanity and all things and the great flood of primeval times to the great migration of the Miao, their ancient social system and daily life, truly a comprehensive collection of ancient Miao myth; because the Miao had no writing of their own, the singing of the ancient songs served the function of transmitting their history and culture. There are strict taboos on singing them, and they may be sung only on such major occasions as ancestor sacrifice, weddings and funerals, gatherings of relatives and friends and festivals, the singers mostly being elderly shamans and singers.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Wang Anjiang 01-0001
- Liu Yonghong 01-0002
- Long Tongzhen 01-0003
- Wang Mingzhi 01-0004
- Zhang Dingqiang 03-0778
- Tian Jinfeng 05-1987
- Wang Chaomei
- Wang Qiguang
- Zhang Hongzhen
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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